Chapter 18
Luca’s face had gone deathly pale, as if I had died or something.
Gasping for breath, I opened my mouth, trying my best to sound composed.
“So, you know… Auntie said it was dangerous, didn’t she.”
I meant to speak calmly, but the end of my voice trembled. So much for pretending to be fine—this was pointless.
Sure enough, Luca’s face crumpled.
If you want to cry, then just cry. A child holding it in, silently sobbing without even making a sound, was far more painful to watch.
“Why did Auntie…? You weren’t like this before…”
.sdkf
Of course, the original Judith probably wouldn’t have cared much whether Luca lived or died, but…
I smiled bitterly and gently patted Luca’s head with my uninjured right hand.
At that moment, my eyes met Rüdiger’s.
Given his large build, I had thought he might at least have been grazed by a bullet, but he was surprisingly unscathed. It was as if the bullets had deliberately avoided him.
Unlike me, who was scanning him over, Rüdiger was staring fixedly at my left arm. His stiff, stone-like expression felt almost like a reproach.
Maybe he was thinking that nothing would have happened if I had just stayed put, that I had foolishly thrust my arm into a blade by interfering.
Damn it—like I wanted to get hurt. How was I supposed to just stand by and watch when a kid was in danger?
…Enough. I knew it myself—those were nothing but long-winded excuses. I let out a deep sigh.
While everyone’s attention was focused on my injury, the assassin fled out of the compartment. Having run out of bullets, he must have decided he had no chance like this.
Understandable. A firefight at a distance with Rüdiger might be one thing, but going head-to-head with him was sheer stupidity. He was just as skilled with blades and fists as he was with guns.
Though, judging by the way he casually snaps back at me, he doesn’t seem weak at verbal sparring either.
Rüdiger immediately noticed the assassin’s escape and chased after him into the corridor. From the fleeting glimpse of his expression, it looked as though he was ready to kill the man on the spot.
I can’t let that happen. What do you think I’ve been suffering all this for?
Enduring the pain in my arm, I forced myself to stand up. Repeating to myself that it didn’t hurt actually made it a little more bearable.
Even then, I didn’t forget to add a word to Luca, just in case.
“It’s not a serious injury, so don’t worry. Stay put… stay put quietly, okay?”
With that, I staggered after Rüdiger. My movements were barely different from those of a zombie.
“Auntie, where are you going?! It’s dangerous!”
Luca hurriedly tried to grab me, but I couldn’t let myself be caught. I gathered every last bit of strength I had and slipped out of his grasp.
The moment I left the compartment, a scene of chaos greeted me in the corridor.
In that brief span of time, who knew what had happened—people were screaming and huddling as close to the windows as possible. Some were crawling along the floor, fleeing in fear of stray bullets, and there was even a crew member bleeding, apparently injured while trying to stop the assassin.
It was obvious where Rüdiger and the assassin had gone. I moved in the opposite direction from the fleeing crowd.
Sure enough, when I reached the next car, I saw Rüdiger’s broad back. He had his gun trained on the assassin.
The distance wasn’t far. With Rüdiger’s shooting skill, a direct hit was guaranteed. I raised my voice with all my might.
“Mr. Rüdiger! You can’t kill him! We need to capture him and dig up who’s behind this!”
Startled by my sudden shout, Rüdiger turned around.
“Why are you here…! Go back inside!”
“Is that what matters right now?! He’s getting away!”
At my sharp rebuke, Rüdiger’s face twisted as if he wanted to say something, then—without even looking at the assassin—he fired.
I thought he was doing something reckless, but the bullet struck the assassin squarely in the leg. Staring at Rüdiger with my mouth hanging open, I could only marvel at the feat.
Did he have eyes on the back of his head…? Still, thank goodness he hadn’t killed him. I let out a breath of relief.
But it was too early to relax. The assassin, who I had expected to collapse immediately, kept running despite limping badly. I almost admired his sheer willpower.
Rüdiger pulled the trigger once more, but no bullet fired. The round he had just used must have been his last.
So he fired his final bullet without even looking? Just how confident is this man?
In the meantime, the assassin opened the door and began crossing into the next car.
No! If we let him get away like this—!
Growing desperate, I clenched my teeth and scanned my surroundings for anything that could stop him.
My eyes landed on a service cart nearby. It looked abandoned in disarray, as if the assassin had burst in while it was being moved to the dining car.
Amid the scattered dishes, I spotted a pepper shaker.
Yes—that’s it!
I reached out for the shaker.
Thankfully, the arm that had been cut was my left. I tested the weight of the pepper shaker lightly in my right hand.
It wasn’t perfectly round, but the grip wasn’t terrible either. I tossed it lightly into the air a few times, caught it, and then took proper aim.
As my left arm moved along, a stabbing pain surged again, but watching the assassin flee made me forget even that.
I threw the pepper shaker straight at the back of his head.
It left my fingertips smoothly. Hey, for all this—I once made it to the national games in middle school playing softball!
Even if my body had changed, it seemed my ability to throw at 110 kilometers per hour hadn’t died. The pepper shaker struck the back of the assassin’s head dead on.
“Ghk—!”
He let out a strangled scream and collapsed on the spot.
Yes!
My face brightened—but then I realized the problem.
At the exact moment the pepper shaker hit him, the assassin was crossing the gap between cars.
Naturally, trains in this world didn’t have sealed corridors between cars like the KTX or Mugunghwa.
The assassin lost his balance, staggered—and fell straight out of the train.
“N-no…!”
“…Damn.”
Watching him fall, I screamed. Rüdiger let out a low, heavy groan.
We both rushed to the spot where the assassin had fallen.
The train, of course, didn’t stop just because someone fell off. Needless to say, there was no sign of the assassin beyond the tracks.
I muttered blankly,
“He’s… dead…”
“…Probably,” Rüdiger replied calmly.
Stunned by how absurd the situation was, I lifted my head as if possessed. At the same time, Rüdiger met my gaze.
He, too, seemed utterly unable to comprehend what had just happened. We stood there, facing each other in silence for a long while.
To think I’d end up killing someone…
I clawed at my hair with my right hand.
I wanted to grab my head with both hands and shake it, but the bandages wrapped tightly around my left arm got in the way.
Anyway, I writhed under a sudden sense of guilt. Even trying to rationalize it by telling myself he was someone who would have died anyway didn’t help—it wasn’t something that could be brushed off so lightly.
Still, I couldn’t keep digging myself into the ground forever. Setting aside the assassin’s death, there were things I still had to deal with.
“Do you understand, Luca? In situations like that, you don’t just charge in recklessly. What if that guy had been carrying a small pistol instead of a knife? Don’t you ever do that again, okay?”
“……”
I sat Luca down and scolded him endlessly. He had already been chewed out by Rüdiger once as well.
Luca’s tightly pressed lips twitched in dissatisfaction. He looked like he had a lot he wanted to say.
But he silently endured the reprimand. Every time his gaze drifted to my arm, he lowered his head toward the floor, as if feeling guilty in his own way.
If that’s the case, you could at least say you won’t do it again! Just how stubborn can you be—he absolutely refuses to say it.
I knew long lectures weren’t very effective. They usually just bred boredom and defiance.
And yet, the more I spoke, the more words kept pouring out. Maybe it was because I was anxious.
All the things I wasn’t certain about regarding Luca piled up and shook me.
My insistence on an answer from him was simply because I wanted a firm safety net for whatever lay ahead.
